Connect With Us!
Twiga Foundation
  • Home
  • About
  • Projects
  • BLOCK Fest ®
  • Contact

What is your take on 'Mommy Juice'?

4/17/2014

2 Comments

 
Last week Maria Shriver did a piece for NBC News on The 'Mommy Juice' Trend.  Admittedly I did not watch The Today Show to see it but thanks to Twitter was aware of her report.  For this working mom being able to watch it on my schedule helps.  Here is the link http://shriverreport.org/the-mommy-juice-trend-how-do-you-know-when-you-have-a-problem-maria-shriver-reports-video/ and I think it would be smart to watch before reading my thoughts.  Perhaps this blog can be a starting point for a virtual conversation!
 


What surprised me the most in Ms. Shriver's report wasn't so much the drinking at play dates but that when asked to discuss it the questions didn't seem to prompt any of the women to pause and consider their actions.  They seemed sort of proud that the were having wine parties in the middle of the day.  Before I had kids I liked to drink.  I have even had a glass of wine with friends in the middle of the day.  In retrospect I may have even done so with a friend who has kids.  Now that I am a mom my perspective has changed.  I think more about how my actions will shape my children's thoughts about how things should/should not be done.  I don't want them to think that drinking will solve their problems or that I need to drink to make it through the day with them.  Nor is it a reward for "surviving" the week balancing work, their needs, trips to the playground....life.
 


At some point we also have to talk about the safety risks associated with drinking while caring for our children.  The thought that I might have to drive my children to the emergency room is always in the back of my mind when I am considering having a drink.  I feel a responsibility to be "on" and ready no matter what my children need.  What if that night is the night they have a fever and need me to stay awake holding them and providing them comfort?  I relish the moments when my babies need me for I know all too soon they will be "big girls" and need me far less.  For the mom's who drive home from playgroup what if that is the day someone runs a stop light and crashes into her?  Maybe the one glass of wine didn't affect her much but did it make her miss seeing the car out of her peripheral vision?  Obviously these dangers aren't limited to drinking at playgroup but they are an overarching consideration when deciding to drink.
 


People say children change your life. They're right.  It isn't just less sleep, stepping over toys, and thousands (yes, thousands) of diapers.  It is also about the unexpected behavioral changes in ourselves like drinking less.  To be clear, I still drink but when I do so the decision is made much more thoughtfully.  It is a small price to pay.
 


By: Jennifer Klos, Mother of two

2 Comments

Working  Moms: How Do You Do It?

3/21/2014

0 Comments

 
I am a small business owner and a mother of three boys. Over the last couple of weeks I have gotten the same question: How do you do it? When I had the third baby out and about at three weeks people couldn’t believe it. Why not? He is my third. I know what I am doing now and I can’t necessarily send the other two away for a few weeks. My husband deployed to Iraq for a year when the boys were six months and two years old. Everyone always reacted with the same response: “I don’t know how you do it. I could never do that.” Well, the truth is, yes you could. 

It is amazing what we are capable of if we have no other options. But back to the daily routine of raising three boys and running my own business, I started to think about how I actually do “it.” I came up with a list of things that I do on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.  Are they the right thing to do? Maybe. Maybe not. But my children are happy. I am happy and our house is full of love. Can’t ask for much more than that.

How Do I Do It?

·      I will go days without washing the dishes

·      I do at least one load of laundry everyday

·      I type with one hand

·      I take the kids to school in my pajamas

·      I work when they nap

·      I work instead of watching a movie

·      I never turn on cable

·      I stopped reading fiction

·      I check e-mails while waiting at the doctor’s office

·      I find babysitters so I can go to a meeting or to the store

·      I ask for help 

·      I hire other people to mop the floors and clean the bathrooms

·      I have my husband make dinner

·      I step and trip over toys 

·      I don’t go on exotic vacations

·      I go to Chick-fil A instead of cooking

·      I drink lots of coffee

·      I bathe the boys every other day

·      I try not to sweat the small stuff

·      I say no every once in awhile

·      I choose our play dates very carefully

·      I take conference calls with babies in our laps

·      I let the older kids watch two TV shows rather than one

·      I let the boys play Angry Birds on their iPads

·      I put the boys in summer camps

·      I accept that someday we will have nice furniture. But not now

·      I take time to get a pedicure

·      I pray

·      I order off of Amazon

·      I go to the grocery store after the kids are in bed

·      I go on long runs

·      I laugh and cry 

·      I read parenting books

·      I make mistakes

·      I do it because I want to

As you can see, it isn’t easy. But it is possible. I love having children and I love my work. Sure, my house isn’t always clean and I loathe laundry. But I wouldn’t trade any of it. My kids are only going to be small for a short while. Soon they will not need me. They will not crawl into bed with me at 3am or sit on my lap while watching Word World. When the baby is screaming and the four year old is crying because the five year old is throwing Legos at his head, I take a deep breath and realize this too shall pass.

What would you add to our list above? How do you balance work, family, and personal time? How do you do it?   

0 Comments

Should We Ban the Word "Bossy"?

3/21/2014

1 Comment

 
There has been a lot of talk lately about the word bossy.  Specifically there is a new campaign to "banbossy."  From corporate America (Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook) to the entertainment industry (Beyonce and Jennifer Garner) to politics (First Lady Michelle Obama and Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice), many have signed on to "banbossy."  First I read about it in Parade Magazine in my Sunday paper.  Then I saw a link to a PSA on Facebook.  Then a few friends and colleagues mentioned it.  It has taken me more than a week to really sort through the comments I have read and heard and process them.

At first I thought, great, let's ban bossy!  Then a friend criticized Beyonce for being a part of the effort because her husband uses equally derogatory words about women in his music.  That one really made me think.  Then I talked to a colleague about how bossy is used in various settings.  As for Beyonce, I don't know anything about her husband's music or her marriage.  If he sings in a negative way about women maybe this is just her first step to trying to make a change.  Bossy is used in a demeaning way towards girls and women.  It is not that I can't handle being called bossy.  It's that it is rude and inappropriate.  It's that when I am managing or leading I am the boss.  My guidance and direction is to be taken and implemented just as it would be from a man.

On the playground when a boy says, "let's set all the balls over here" he is taking charge and helping but when a girl does it she is being bossy.  When a girl continually raises her hand to answer questions in class she is a know-it-all while the guy is just smart.  When a man says in a meeting "we should save money on this starting today" he is innovative and a problem solver.  When a woman says it people walk out mumbling that she is bossy.

I do not think banning the word bossy is going to change the world or create equality in the work place. I do think young women will be positively affected.  I hope it might make just one teacher or parent think about the words they are using around children.  I do think "banbossy" is a step towards all of us treating one another in a fair, equal, and respectable manner.  It's just the nice thing to do.

By: Jennifer Klos, mother of two.

1 Comment

The benefits of working in your slippers

2/5/2014

1 Comment

 
I have been fortunate enough to have worked from home for the last four years. I started working from home just a few hours a month. Then it went to a few more hours a week and now I am working full-time from home. It has taken me about 4 years to really get it down to a science. I have created an office that is quiet and allows me comfort and privacy. I have gotten to a point where I do not see the dirty dishes looming behind me or the dust bunnies in the corners. When I am "at work" I am focused and ready to go. The hardest part for me now is stopping work. When my work is always just an arms-length away it is hard to turn off and focus on the kids or get the dishes done. There is always one more e-mail to send or one more post to write. However, working from home definitely has more pros than cons for this mom. Here are just a few of the benefits I find from working from home:

1. I save money on clothes. I still buy clothes of course. I am a sucker for a pair of jeans. But I do not have to buy suits, heels, jewelry, etc.

2. I don't have to get ready in the morning.

3. I can work in sweatpants and slippers or jeans and a tank top.

4. I can make as much coffee as I want

5. I am not distracted by other employees stopping by my desk to talk

6. It is completely quiet in my house

7. I can listen to the Today show if I have a light morning

8. I save money on gas

9. I save at least an hour a day by not commuting

10. I am home for my kids before and after school

If you have the flexibility to work from home what do you enjoy most about it? If you do not work from home would you like to? Do you think you could be productive? I would love to hear your thoughts!

By: Heather Myklegard

1 Comment

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Twiga Foundation, Inc. 2017